1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to license management server that manages installation of software onto image processing apparatus based on license-related status, license management method, and computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multifunction peripherals (MFPs), onto which program software developed after the MFP has been delivered to a customer is additionally installable, have been proliferated in recent years. To additionally install software onto such an MFP, it is necessary to obtain a license from an activation server and to activate the software.
However, there can be cases where an MFP, on which software has been activated, falls into a trouble, such as a failure, that prevents the MFP from canceling the activation (hereinafter, “deactivating”) by the MFP itself. In such a case, the server performs enforced deactivation on the MFP in some cases.
A technique that allows flexible license management even when a license management server is in a trouble, e.g., a situation that the license management server is down, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804, for example. The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804 includes a method of, in a case where one client apparatus is unable to carrying out communications with the server, the one client apparatus sends a request to another client apparatus to borrow a license therefrom so that a series of license management operations can be continued even while the license management server is down.
A technique that allows, even when a license has expired while a user is working with a licensed application, the user to continue working with the application without restarting the application is disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-40262. The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-40262 includes a method of managing a license by causing a platform that executes an application, which is managed by using the license, to send a notification that the license has been updated when the license has been updated.
However, even when the license is validated by using the techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-40262, if enforced deactivation is performed by the server, the status of the MFP can go out of synchronization with that of the server. Mismatching between the status of the MFP and the status of the server is disadvantageous in that, in a case where the MFP has recovered from a failure, an attempt of license synchronization (activation/deactivation) between the MFP and the server can result in error due to the mismatching.
When such a technique as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804 that allows one client apparatus to borrow a license from another client apparatus is employed, it is difficult to prevent unauthorized use of equipment.